| Price | KatsuGear |
| Release | December 2025 |
| Compatibility | NS2 / PC |
Introduction
The Sandow is a trophy you win as the champion of the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition. However, what we’re talking about in this article is not that… It’s the Sandow Sando!
Even before its release, the Sando already gained the admiration of notable community members—who can be seen with it on social media from X to YouTube.
That said, Sando is a revolutionary controller by KatsuGear, which was founded by two fighting gamers: Will & Micah. Will is from Tokyo, whereas Micah is from New York. Having attended tournaments left and right, they know what it takes to create a controller that wins you championship gold.
In fact, Will is an engineer who even modded his own guitar and tennis racquet. As for Micah, he has always modded his controllers. Both players are into Street Fighter and Tekken.
Performance
You can buy the Sando as a 16 button leverless controller or a WASD controller—with the WASD format having a spacebar-like jump key for easier pressing.
Having said that, the Sando’s 24 and 30 mm Punk Workshop Blaze V2 keycaps are quite popular in the fightstick industry for their smooth yet grippy feel.
The Sando’s switches, on the other hand, are less common. Specifically, they’re the quieter GEON Raw HE switches that have a Hall effect, so you can customize their actuation point to your liking.
Otherwise, the switches’ initial force would be 27 g, and they’d take 40 g of force to bottom out completely. At any rate, the Sando’s switches are fortunately swappable if you have another preference.
There’s more to the Sando’s performance, though. Its rapid trigger feature ends input signals immediately after you stop pressing a button, allowing you to quickly register another button press. Finally, this controller has a wrist slope for your comfort—as you game for hours.
Hardware
The Sando is wide enough, moderately slim, and noticeably weighty. It’s got some silicone parts, such as its injection molded case that adds grip. Also, its silicone function buttons are placed on the top panel’s left side, which isn’t a location that we at The Arcade Stick are used to seeing.
Thanks to the reliable GP2040 open source firmware, the Sando’s input delay is tiny—less than 1 ms. Moreover, you can control the built-in screen with a metallic menu knob (near the tournament lock toggle).
One thing you can do with the menu is make the Sando’s directional buttons act as a left or right analog stick. You can also remap the buttons—as well as cycle between SOCD cleaning modes to stay tournament legal.
If your Sando’s USB-C port ever experiences wear and tear, you can just replace it. It’s in the controller’s back right. Additionally, you can extend the controller’s compatibility options with a dongle. You can actually see the controller’s PCB through its bottom window!
Appearance
The Sando is a unique looker. It’s got a top aluminum plate that’s durable, scratch resistant, and comes in silver or black. There are actually two top plates—one aluminum, one acrylic—held by four screws. These plates are interchangeable, so we at The Arcade Stick can hook you up with our custom art service to make a design just for you.
You can customize the Sando’s look even further. For example, check out these keycap colors:
- Blue
- Clear
- Green
- Pink
- Purple
- Red
- Smoke
- Yellow
Even the Sando’s menu knob is offered in:
- Black
- Black nickel
- Chrome
- Gold
More than that, the Sando’s case and function buttons can come in:
- Alert yellow
- Forest green
- Pitch black
- Racing red
- Sky blue
That way, you can spice up the Sando’s colors as much as you want—in a way that complements the custom art (and button LED too).
Conclusion
The Sando is for the player who finds the use of two extra thumb buttons, one extra index button, and one extra middle finger button to be crucial for fighting game excellence, making it a worthwhile investment.
Another tribe of fighting gamers who’d love the Sando are those who prefer a WASD layout comprised of directional keys, including a mini spacebar. Lastly, the controller’s customizable features—from actuation points to artwork—make it fit your needs.
- Made by fighting gamers
- More buttons than most
- Customizable switches
- Grippy keycaps
- Leverless or WASD
- Rapid trigger feature
- Extendable compatibility
- Excellent firmware
- Tournament lock
- Replaceable port
- Built-in screen
- Custom artwork
- Color choices
- Cool lighting
- Wide enough
- Moderately slim
- Noticeably weighty
- Acrylic, aluminum, silicone